A/N: I'm not sure how many chapters there is before the end but not too many, just thought you should know.
Once it was established that they didn't think the other was a terrible pain in their hive and both actually considered the other as a human being, they began to notice the signs of some sort of friendship that had been ignored until now. 'Now' would be about a week after the first riding lesson.
This whole new friendship concept wasn't so new to Malik who had had friends before in his life, many friends actually, but it was different with Bakura. The thief just simply didn't do friendship and it annoyed and frustrated Malik that he refused to open up. Malik had been willing to share his life's story, he even told about the dress-up game, which he considered to be embarrassing.
In the end the boy had just given up about that and decided to wait and see if things would change. There was a slim chance of that happening but there wasn't anything he could do about it anyway. Trust wasn't something you just got, it had to be earned.
"You're coming with me today kid."
Malik looked up at the thief in surprise. He had just planned on laying around all day and not do anything, actually. "Where are we going?"
"To town, come on."
Malik got up with lightning speed, excitement evident on his face. He had done nothing but been in the building or in the desert near it for all this time, and before that he had just been in the cave, this was a nice chance to get out and have a change of scenery. He ran to catch up with Bakura and hurried to keep up with him.
"Why are we going? Are we taking Pharaoh? What are we going to do there? Why are you taking me with you now? Oh hey, can I ride alone?"
"Kid." Bakura said to stop the flood of questions. "I need something from the town. Yes, we're taking Pharaoh. We are going to buy some stuff. I thought I just would. No, absolutely not." He answered to all the questions in order with patience he didn't even know he possessed.
"Ok!" The boy chirped happily. "Pharaoh!" He called once he spotted the horse. The animal came to them, ears forward in curiosity. "Hey boy." He petted the horse and then let out a surprised sound when he was lifted on his back.
"We have to hurry if we want to get there before midday." Bakura helped himself up, behind Malik.
The trip to the nearest town began. Pharaoh was clearly happy to be moving and sped up from time to time, almost throwing Malik off balance though his ability to stay in balance had gotten better. Luckily for him, he had Bakura to keep him there by wrapping an arm around the boy's waist. A small smile crept to Malik's face and he felt a bit flushed for some reason. He deemed it to be because he was happy that the other cared enough to keep him there, instead of just letting him fall off but an aching feeling told that that wasn't all there was to it.
They arrived to the town and left Pharaoh outside it. Malik looked around, trying to see everything at once. All the people that flocked in the market place, the buildings and all the stuff that was trying to get sold. He had never seen anything outside the place he had lived in so this was all new and exciting to him. The thief looked at him in amusement as he pointed at everything and everyone.
"Stop drawing so much attention to us." Bakura told, shaking his head with a small smile.
Malik smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, it's just- Hey look!" He was set to run towards something he had seen but was stopped by a hand grabbing his shoulder. He came to sudden stop and looked up at Bakura in question.
"Better to stick with me."
The boy nodded and settled to walk by the other, silently this time but still looking around.
"What did you see?" Bakura asked suddenly, referring to what Malik had wanted to go see earlier.
"Nothing important..." The boy said off handedly while still turning his head to see everything.
"Come on, show me."
Malik looked up at him but then took his hand and lead him to a table with small wooden animals on it, pointing carefully at a horse shaped one that was made out of dark wood. To him it was really pretty and reminded him of his horse friend.
"I can get it for you, you know, if you want."
The boy once again looked at Bakura in surprise. "You don't have to..." He said quietly but was silently glad that the other had offered to.
"I know that." The man stated and then turned to the salesman to have a strange discussion about the prise. Malik had seen his brother do that too once or twice. Then he was handled the wooden horse and he took it, holding it gratefully to his chest like it was his most prised possession. Well, it would be from now on.
"Thank you..." Malik smiled brightly up at the thief who had this slightly taken back reaction again. The boy had noticed that it happened whenever he smiled like that to him, he would look all bothered and then look away.
"No problem, let's go." Bakura started to walk away and Malik quickly took off after him.
A few hours until it would be dark they left the town. Bakura had noticed that the boy didn't know much about anything and he had took it up to himself to teach the kid. Apparently his siblings had been very protective of him all his life and sealed him away from "the evil world". Things like how to haggle was taught and the boy caught on quickly, actually being quite good at it with the cuteness thing he pulled with the salesmen. He had bought a variety of things and met up with this one guy who had some information about the trading caravans. He could have just stolen all this stuff but what was the point of having a lot of money if you never spent it on anything?
It surprised him how happy the simple gift had made the boy; he had treated it like it was made of pure gold instead of wood. Though it was somehow nice to be able to do that, to coax the smile out of the boy...
Right now the tired boy was dozing off against his chest as Pharaoh galloped across the darkening desert. He had to make sure that Malik wouldn't fall off the horse and had his arm holding him close, secretly enjoying the smaller body relaxing against him. It just felt so nice somehow... And the boy clearly trusted him to keep him from falling.
They arrived to their latest hiding place when it was already dark and Bakura had to carry the already sleeping boy to the building. Not that he minded terribly.
He laid the sleeping boy down and wrapped the blanket around him carefully. A content sigh escaped from the now slightly parted lips as Malik slept soundly. Then the thief did something he would later had to ponder why he did that in the first place. He planted a kiss on the small parted lips, pulling away almost immediately. The boy let out a small sound and smiled a bit in his sleep.
The sun rays shone straight in his eyes and pulled him out of his peaceful slumber. Malik opened his eyes only to shade them with his arm. He lifted his head a bit from his pillow to look around. Where was Bakura? The thief was nowhere in sight.
The boy got up quickly and grabbed something to eat before heading out to look for the other. Now where could he be? People around him looked busy but he decided that it was best to ask from someone.
"Hey, where's Bakura?" He asked from one man passing him. The man directed an unfriendly gaze at him before answering.
"He went out early."
"Where did he go?" He sounded a bit rude and ordering there but that must be something he got from the thief. The man's eye twitched in annoyance.
"Check from where his horse is." Now the man pushed past him and went back to whatever he had been doing before.
"Ok, thanks."
On his way to Pharaoh, Malik remembered the dream he had had. He blushed a bit at the thought; in the dream Bakura had kissed him... It had felt kind of nice... He wondered though, how could he know what kissing felt like when he had never been kissed? He thought it was just because of his imagination but was there a reason he had imagined, and dreamed, that? Sure he liked the other but wasn't things like that meant to be between men and women? That's what Isis had told him at least when he had asked about it after seeing his older friend kiss this girl he was supposed to marry. Isis was rarely wrong because she knew a lot of stuff but could it be that she didn't know everything about stuff like that?
As Malik pondered that his thoughts went to his family again. It had been so long since he had last seen them and he doubted that he would have the chance ever again... Strangely he didn't feel quite as sad about it than he had been, he was quite happy here actually, with Bakura and his new best friend, Pharaoh. Though it would be nice to get to see his sister and brother again sometime...
"What are you thinking?" Came the familiar voice that snapped him out of his thoughts. Malik looked to see Bakura who was grooming Pharaoh, seemingly concentrating on the horse.
"Just... stuff." The horse lowered his head so the the boy could reach to pet it. "My family and... stuff."
"Stuff?"
"Yeah... Why didn't you stay and sleep with me last night?"
Bakura started coughing without any apparent reason and Malik looked at him worriedly. The thief managed to calm his coughing after a while.
"What?" He asked in a bit high pitched voice.
The boy gave him a weird look, not understanding this strange behavior. "Yeah, you weren't there when I woke up. Did you sleep at all?"
"Oh. I couldn't sleep so I... No I didn't sleep." The thief went back to tending Pharaoh.
"You really should sleep more." Malik said with a worried frown. Maybe the other was sick and that's the reason he was acting weirdly.
"I know that, mother." The other told and the boy rolled his eyes.
"Anyways, I had fun yesterday, thanks for taking me with you." He smiled a bit, changing the subject and also picked a brush, starting to groom. The horse lowered his head and closed his eyes, enjoying all the attention he was getting.
"Hm." Was the sound that meant that Bakura had acknowledged his thanks. "Didn't your family ever take you anywhere?"
"Only if they had to go somewhere and didn't want to leave me alone." Now that he thought of it and how he had been treated here, that seemed like over-protectiveness to him. It wasn't like he couldn't take care of himself at all... "I never left the town before you... you know."
The other nodded. "Too sheltered if you ask me, no wonder you're so naïve."
After they were done with Pharaoh it was time to head back. Malik had taken to holding the other's hand as they walked, he had done that in the town yesterday too and Bakura didn't mind terribly. The innocent show of affection was nice though not quite enough. He really didn't know what had gotten into him last night when he had kissed the boy but he couldn't help but wonder if the boy had minded if he had been awake... It had sparkled something inside of him that he hadn't been aware of until now. But now as he watched the young boy beside him, walking and chatting about something pointless, he wondered if it was sinful... Not that he had ever cared about that before but...
"Are you even listening?" The boy's voice broke through his musings.
"Not really."
Malik shook his head a bit but didn't say anything, just continuing to walk quietly this time since he knew the other wasn't listening to him anyway. He was keeping a close eye on him though, he always did these days...
A/N: Ah emotions :) Bakura's mind is a bit dirty though xD
Please review!!
